The aim of my writing is to utterly remove the distance between author and reader so that the book becomes a sort of semipermeable membrane through which feelings, ideas, nutrients pass.

A book burrows into your life in a very profound way because the experience of reading is not passive.

Sometimes it was worth all the disadvantages of marriage just to have that: one friend in an indifferent world.

Pain is not love. Love flowers; love gives without taking; love is serene and calm.

When I met my husband, I refused to invite him home for Passover because I was embarrassed my mother might serve all the catered dishes in the wrong order.

I knew I was in England by the smell.

Women are their own worst enemies. And guilt is the main weapon of self-torture . . . Show me a woman who doesn't feel guilty and I'll show you a man.